Exploring the Solar System

Exploring Mars

What was the first mobile mission ever sent to another planet?

Mars Pathfinder, which was launched on December 4, 1996, landed on the planet Mars on July 4, 1997. It carried with it the Sojourner mobile unit, or “Mars buggy,” which rolled out of the Pathfinder craft soon after the landing. Sojourner soon made history as the first robotic vehicle to move under its own power across the surface of another planet.